ATI for WD not activating
I got Acronis True Image for WD and created a backup of My Cloud onto My Book. My Cloud then decided to fail so I tried to get the backup off My Book with ATI but ran into the issue with requiring Authentication details. I tried the solutions in KB58004 but these didn't work.
I have now reinstalled ATI and, although I have the My Book attached to my PC via USB and the dead My CLoud attached to my router via Ethernet, it says it cannot activate ATI as there is no WD product attached. So, how do I recover the backup I made on My Book?
I have tried copying the backup files into my C drive and opening one up in ATI but it just won't load the program.
The referenced KB article can be found here:
https://kb.acronis.com/content/58004
"58004: Acronis True Image 2016: Troubleshooting Issues Related to NAS Credentials"
"Enter your Windows credentials"
Is this the kind of authentication prompt you're getting?
Do you have more than one backup plan perhaps? One where you backup your PC to your My Cloud, and one where you backup your My Cloud to your My Book? If that's the case, then that prompt is likely related to the backup to My Cloud. You can safely ignore that and click on Cancel and remove that backup from the list of backup plans in True Image. Make sure that the second backup plan (My Cloud to My Book) is in the list of backup plans, and try to select it again to recover from that backup.
Where are you trying to restore the backup? Have you replaced the disk in My Cloud perhaps and are trying to restore to that from the My Book disk?
Also, what version of True Image WD Edition are you using? Make sure you have the latest version installed.
Hi Samir, thanks for the questions.
The authentication issue is for True Image. The issue is that the Acronis True Image for WD is free for WD hardware owners and it verifies the hardware when you try to use it. For some reason, I don't know why, it cannot see my MyBook drive even though it's plugged into the USB port on the PC. It also can't see the MyCloud drive, probably due to it being corrupted but I'm not sure of the reason.
I tried the solutions in KB58004 but these didn't work.
The message I get is "Product Activation Required"
"Acronis True Image for Western Digital requires an external or internal drive by Western Digital to be connected to the system, or a network attached storage (NAS) by Western Digital to be present in the local network. Make sure that the Western Digital hardware is available and properly connected, and then click "Rescan" to detect it. After the hardware is found, Acronis True Image for Western Digital will be activated."
When I rescan, it gives a message saying "No new hardware by Western Digital detected. Please make sure that your new hardware by Western Digital has been attached to this system or can be detected in your local network, then try to renew the license again."
The message I was getting when trying to access it before I reinstalled Acronis was "Authentication required" and then a window for user name and password. I think that required a user name and password for the drive but I'm not sure.
The MyCloud is attached to the router now as it would only work properly before when attached directly to the router. After it failed I tried to access it with Acronis True Image while it was still attached to the router but no joy. I then disconnected it and tried to access it through a SATA enclosure and got the issues above.
What baffles me most is that I have a backup of the MyCLoud contents on the MyBook drive which I made with Acronis True Image for just this situation but Acronis doesn't seem to recognise the MyBook drive now so I can't recover it.
Michael,
Thank you for clarifying the situation.
The authentication issue is for True Image. The issue is that the Acronis True Image for WD is free for WD hardware owners and it verifies the hardware when you try to use it.
I'm somewhat familiar with True Image for WD, the so called "WD Edition", as I frequently buy WD products myself. Although I do not use these editions of True Image, since I am a long time True Image user. I always buy my True Image licenses from Acronis, so my True Image installations don't have that attachment to disk brand.
I have not looked into this, but could it be that the WD Edition of True Image is only licensed to be active for one year or whatever the warranty time is on the WD product? It's a strange question, I know. But it may be only free for a limited time. It's important to set the expectations right before going any further.
For some reason, I don't know why, it cannot see my MyBook drive even though it's plugged into the USB port on the PC. It also can't see the MyCloud drive, probably due to it being corrupted but I'm not sure of the reason.
So you can see the My Book in File Explorer in Windows? You can even copy files from it to your desktop?
Can you also access the interface of your My Cloud device?
The message I get is "Product Activation Required"
"Acronis True Image for Western Digital requires an external or internal drive by Western Digital to be connected to the system, or a network attached storage (NAS) by Western Digital to be present in the local network. Make sure that the Western Digital hardware is available and properly connected, and then click "Rescan" to detect it. After the hardware is found, Acronis True Image for Western Digital will be activated."
This "Product Activation Required" message, did it start to appear only after you ran into problems with your My Cloud device?
The message I was getting when trying to access it before I reinstalled Acronis was "Authentication required" and then a window for user name and password. I think that required a user name and password for the drive but I'm not sure.
That does sound like one of those commonly seen authentication dialog boxes when trying to access web or other network resources, with input field for username and password. So that was most likely related to accessing the My Cloud over the network, by you directly or by True Image as intermediary.
The MyCloud is attached to the router now as it would only work properly before when attached directly to the router. After it failed I tried to access it with Acronis True Image while it was still attached to the router but no joy. I then disconnected it and tried to access it through a SATA enclosure and got the issues above.
What exactly do you mean by it working properly?
The disk or disks in your My Cloud, have you removed it/them? And you have it/them attached to your PC directly now?
What My Cloud model is this?
What baffles me most is that I have a backup of the MyCLoud contents on the MyBook drive which I made with Acronis True Image for just this situation but Acronis doesn't seem to recognise the MyBook drive now so I can't recover it.
This will sound like another strange question probably. But with which product did you get True Image with? Obviously if it came with My Cloud that is no longer working properly, then True Image would not be able to detect it and validate your eligibility to use the software.
All OEM editions of ATI have the limitation that they must detect a disk of the OEM make in order to activate. Some USB adapters can cause the disk make to be masked by the controller in the adapter.
Check that you are connecting your MyBook drive directly to a USB port that is connected directly to the PC motherboard, i.e. those on the rear of desktop / tower PC's and not using a USB hub or dock.
Thanks Steve,
I took your advice and made sure the MyBook is connected directly to my Microsoft Surface Pro via the USB port. I uninstalled all Acronis products, used the Cleanup tool and CCleaner. Rebooted the PC reinstalled a fresh copy of ATI for WD but still get the same message as I posted above - "No new hardware by Western Digital detected. Please make sure that your new hardware by Western Digital has been attached to this system or can be detected in your local network, then try to renew the license again."
The MyBook is clearly visible with all the backup files in Windows Explorer.
At a loss what to do next other than pay £00s to a data recovery firm to recover my MyCloud data.
Just to let you know, I also tried, at someone's suggestion, a trial copy of ATI but that didn't work either.
Thanks for your support.
Michael, have you tried connecting the failed MyCloud device to see if that is still recognised as a WD device for the purpose of activating the WD ATI application?
If the trial copy of the full ATI application didn't work with your MyBook then that suggests some other issue with that drive?
One suggestion, assuming you have another spare / backup drive available, would be to copy your ATI .tib or .tibx backup file from the MyBook to that other drive, then try again with the trial version of ATI. Note: if you have .tibx files on the MyBook you need to be using a trial of either 2020 or 2021 as these are the only versions that will work with this file type.
One further suggestion / question: do you have any other Windows PC's where you could try installing the WD ATI application and test with your MyBook image?
Michael Coker wrote:The message I get is "Product Activation Required"
"Acronis True Image for Western Digital requires an external or internal drive by Western Digital to be connected to the system, or a network attached storage (NAS) by Western Digital to be present in the local network. Make sure that the Western Digital hardware is available and properly connected, and then click "Rescan" to detect it. After the hardware is found, Acronis True Image for Western Digital will be activated."
When I rescan, it gives a message saying "No new hardware by Western Digital detected. Please make sure that your new hardware by Western Digital has been attached to this system or can be detected in your local network, then try to renew the license again."
I had the same activation error "No new hardware by Western Digital detected" over and over again while offline. In my case, I figured out that the activation fails because Acronis needs to be connected to the Internet in order to activate. I used an internal WD HDD in a third-party dock connected by USB and an external WD HDD connected by USB. Both worked on macOS.
XP1 wrote:I had the same activation error "No new hardware by Western Digital detected" over and over again while offline. In my case, I figured out that the activation fails because Acronis needs to be connected to the Internet in order to activate. I used an internal WD HDD in a third-party dock connected by USB and an external WD HDD connected by USB. Both worked on macOS.
Were you able to use the Acronis software while offline, after it was activated?
Michael, one more suggestion...
With your WD drives disconnected from the system, open up Windows Device Manager. Select the View->Show hidden devices menu command. Then look under the Disk drives. Your fixed disks should have solid icons, but there should also be remnants from prior USB devices, etc. with gray icons. You could Uninstall device for the grayed devices. After that, plug the USB drive back in and see if that helps.